Beware of Phantom Vibration Syndrome, It Could Kill You

This article warns us of the latest possible medical condition that could end life as we know it. Okay that might be going overboard, but what is the next big trauma that we will have to deal with? It’s technical term is Phantom Vibration Syndrome, more commonly called ringxiety. This is when you feel your phone vibrate in your pocket but you either don’t have your cell phone turned on or you not not even have your cell phone. I am not making this shit up. This article appeared above the fold on page one of today’s New Hampshire Union Leader. This is unbelievable, people feel their phones vibrate when they are not on and now we have a name for it. Just check out some excerpts from the article:

“I go to reach for my cell phone and it isn’t there,” said Ben Hastie, 18, of Merrimack, who has a Motorola Razor phone. “It happens all the time.”

Josh Weaver, 22, who works in Merrimack, has done the same thing.

“My cell phone wasn’t even on,” he said.

“I don’t know what it is,” said Andrea Robichaud, 23, a web designer in Merrimack who has checked her cellphone for incoming calls after experiencing a phantom vibration. “I just know that no one was calling.”

The horror. This sounds kind of like when you have been wearing a hat all day and then you take it off and it still feels as though you have it on so you try to adjust it. I will dub that problem removed hat discomfort syndrome. Really, who sits around and thinks this stuff up?

But it gets better/worse depending on your thinking, as a psychiatrist checks in:

Peter Tse, professor of psychological and brain sciences at Dartmouth College, said phantom vibration rings may happen because cell phone users develop a “template” in their heads.

“I have a template for my baby’s cry in my head, for example, and sometimes just by chance a random set of sounds will match it,” he said. “I will go to check, but the baby wasn’t crying. ”

He said the brain is constantly filtering out background information. Tse said sometimes when a person is monitoring or searching for something important to them — such as a cell phone call or the sound of their own name — some of this background information is picked up and matched to a mental template.

It’s called the cocktail party effect.

“When everyone’s talking at a cocktail party, if your name or anything close to your name comes up in the room, you easily pick up on that,” Tse said.

But false vibrations are less easily understood. Some neurologists compare it to the nerve sensations felt by amputees in the place of the missing limb.

It seems we are constantly being bombarded with trumped up dilemmas and disasters that we always have to be on guard of. This is just the latest syndrome in a constant barrage of potential disaster we are forced to listen to every day. Don’t you find it funny that many of these issues are political issues or are used for political reasons?

Here are some of the other issues we are supposed to live in fear of. The bird flu, the worse hurricane season predictions every year, trans fats, restless leg syndrome, global warming, global cooling, ADD, AADD. It seems there is a name for everything nowadays.

It’s hard to include Phantom Vibration Syndrome in the Nanny State world we are living in, this is just stupid, or is this the Nanny State gone awry?. Although when I think about it, reading an article like this makes me realize how absurd the world is becoming. When you have to have a name for thinking your phone is vibrating when it’s not, perhaps we have moved beyond the Nanny State. We have reached the point of having lost all of our common sense, maybe we didn’t lose it. Perhaps it has been taken away by the media and their constant reminders, we no longer have to think for ourselves. When the weather gets cold, the media tells us to bundle up, on the Fourth of July the media runs PSA’s telling us not to hold lighted fireworks, when the weather gets hot the media tell us to drink water. Hell, on the news tonight I was told if I wanted to save money I should leave my credit card at home so that I won’t succumb to impulse buying.

Anyway, I kind of drifted there, we now have a new syndrome and before you know it we will have a new drug. Perhaps it will be called Vibristop or something like that.

So what does Verizon have to say about this (yes, the article did talk to Verizon)?

David Thomson, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless, said phones should not vibrate unless there’s a call coming in.

I am an actual person who feels these “vibrations” and I think this is the STUPIDEST thing I have ever heard. I don’t even carry my phone in my pocket. People are idiots! And to Dave, yes…I see a drug coming from this soon, as well.

ALL these people have the same concern. I CANNOT respect ANYONE who believes this rubbish. I give more credit to the person who cracked that it was “the mothership” calling all it’s victims, than some stupid “cell phone ringing theory”.

It’s JUST a nervous twitch. It comes from sitting on your duff all day and maybe a little bit of stress. I want to punch the person who came up with such a ridiculous theory!

What are you?? a doctor this is not just a joke its a real study and you pretend to know everything yeah and a nervous twitch that only appears at the place were your mobile normally is..
whatever unbelivable that there are people really that stupid!!!

My, my aren’t you hostile. I am glad that you have not had the experience of phantom vibration, but must you be so agitated that it does happen to others. What have you got to gain by being so negative. Maybe you need drugs to calm you.

well, my vibrations started last night. they have been constant all day long, oh, btw, i stand in surgery ALL day long so my feelings of vibration are def not from sitting on my butt all day……just sayin!

my vibrations started a week ago ..they have been constant with same repetion as my phone vibration..my viration is on the inside of my left foot .it really freaked me out the first night i thought i might have ciculation depletion .this sensation is very real .

I just googled this page and I am of sound mind. My replace knee which has metal and plastic in just started 2 days and today to get vibrations on my metal portion of the knee. I kid you not, who would make up this stuff. I do have a cell phone and both times it was in the car… what gives???

I too feel these ‘vibrations’! They drive me absolutely crazy, I feel them whether I have my phone on me or not and they can lat ALL DAY (like today). Feeling crazy I went straight home after work to google “I feel vibrations in my body” and this was the first article I found. I don’t know what to believe but this IS real! As I am still feeling the vibrations as I type….

…remove the vibration setting from your phone or at the least move it to another part of your body (so it can begin the same phenomenon there)…your choice…but it’s most often related to what i consider nerve reverberation…mine stopped within a day after i turned off the vibration setting on my phone…haven’t had it since…it’s not the end of the world, just the end of a pattern with which your body is responding to…

Is your phone being carried next to your body most of the time. If so, it might be caused from the radiation of the phone. I am experiencing a funny sensation and I have been carrying my phone in a fanny pack around my waist. I am concerned about it, not sure it is safe, health wise.

I agree with you… I feel this and yes, I sit on my tail most of the day, (retired), and just a little stress sets it off…. When I put my hand there, nothing.. it’s like my muscles are soothed by my touch and when it happens again, I put my hand on my thigh again.. it’s like magic. Us talking about it, takes the hypertension about what it could be away, and now I’m fine with it.. my phone will stay on vibrate, but will move it around.. cheers.. we don’t need any meds to cure this… when a survey is taken, I”m responding with “No I would not spend any funds to fix this.. ” Duh..

I am so glad I read this article. I called my doctor yesterday and set up an appointment for Monday, the 8th of December, because this vibration in my leg was worrying me. I could not figure why I was vibrating. I thought something was really wrong. Now I will have something to share with my doctor. I had never heard of such a thing as Phantom Vibration Syndrome, and being caused by my cell phone. And yes I would check my phone to see if anyone had called. And you are right, no calls. But lately I have not had my cell phone on me, I have been leaving it in my purse at work or on the table, yet I still vibrate and touch my pocket to see if my phone was in it. Thank-you, I feel much better now. The only thing is now I have to figure out how to stop vibrating. Do you think I could think it away? Signed Vibrated.

I have the same sensation, mine is on my right front side, in the bend of my leg on the inside close to my pelvic around, almost where my cell phone would be if I were sitting down..however, this doesn’t hold any validity because I carry my cell phone in my back left pocket, so the cell phone thing doesn’t make any sense to me. Another thing I haven’t carried my phone in several months due to my job doesn’t allow cell phones at work…so can anyone give me another logical explination as to why this happens every day at approximately 40 to 50 times?

I’m a premed student and have pretty good explanation of what’s happeneing here.

First off in everyone’s body are touch receptors, The thing with our bodies is that as we become accustomed to certain stimuli we have responses to them. this is how muscle memory works, the amount of energy required to activate nerve cells becomes lower as you use them more frequently.

at a certain point however as you get more accustomed to it, the “vibration sensation” can be set off by something as small as your pants brushing against your thigh. it is not some psych issue, it is medical. it is a learned response.

if you wish to avoid getting Phantom Vibration Syndrome, all you have to do is prevent your body from being conditioned to the vibrations. To do this simply change the pocket that you keep your phone in! i recommend every month change which pocket you keep your phone in. this will prevent the conditioned response.

but. DO NOT ALTERNATE EVERY DAY, this will condition both at the same time, you must do it in long enough time to “uncondition” your leg but short enough to prevent getting the sensations in the first place

I believe this is true, because I have had this going on for several months now and did suspect carrying my cell in my pocket. I switched sides, but because not all my scrubs have a pocket on both sides sometimes I’d carry my phone in my back pocket. Now, I mostly have the vibrations in my right leg,daily, where I carry my cell most, more infrequently in my left, where I carry it least and it has started in my low back (back pocket). I have other musculoskeletal issues and nerve pain and wondered if it was related, but I would tend to believe this cell phone stimulation theory….Sue

I am a neuroscientist and I think I agree with your idea. More specifically, I think it is due to long term potentiation in the sensory motor cortex. Changing the side may or may not help. I would suggest just taking your phone off vibrate if you are experiencing any phantom vibrations. It could get worse over a course of years and possible become a form of chronic pain. Mobile phones have only been around 10 years so these kinds of effects might only just be starting to emerge.

I am a medical student. There have been some confusion in people experiencing this in conveying their experience with this Phantom Vibration. I too have these experiences. Me and many others use the “phone vibrating” to describe the type of sensation we feel as it is hard to describe if you have not had it. While sometimes people think it is their phone vibrating it is independent of it. It is a vibration in our inner leg that happens to feel as a cell phone is vibrating there. People who dont use cell phones, who dont or ever used vibrate experience this feeling. It is independent of the use of the vibration function on a phone. It is a very real sensation, and is very strange and confusing.

50 y/o wm experiencing same vibratory symptoms only in my left leg, days or nights at “its” whim. No pain, and unable to insonnate any movement or spasm in extremity when I feel the vibration !! Going on over a year now. I went to a massage therapist and she said it was blocked energy,…she was able to “stop” symptoms if I went back weekly! It might be worth a try to have others do the same through there massage therapist ! Good Luck….

There’s nothing wrong with making up a catchy name for a current gossip item so when people are referring to it they don’t need to describe it in detail every single time.

But, “Phantom Vibration Syndrome?” I agree, that name sucks. And it’s a mildly amusing non-issue. I blame bored, useless communications interns desperate for something to research so they can get some air time.

On the same argument I don’t see the political connection you’re trying to make. Maybe you too are another bored communication intern, trying to make something out of nothing?

This is a real condition. Therefore the name. If u have never experience the symptoms it may sound silly. When I was younger I thought “Pink Eye” was stupid and caused by make up. I didn’t have a clue. As I am typing this my leg is vibrating. (That’s why I’m researching any info on it and came across this.) It is arrogant to dismiss anything you have not experienced. I have delt with this for years. It has changed my phone habits. I don’t check every vibration. Because of that I miss calls when I really shouldn’t.

I wonder what long term effects of this could be. Can the area effected become tougher like calouses (typo) in the palms of your hands and feet. Will human brain develope some new counter measure. Some peoples left ear noticbly tougher when that’s there phone ear. (Telemarketers) Its natural. People who shoot a lot have a tougher trigger finger compared to the rest of the hand.

I have accepted this contition as a fault of modern man. I want to know what’s the future of this. 10, 15 years out from now. Will this vibration cause extra nerves to grow in the area of my pocket where I keep my phone. (That’s what I thought was happening) Will I eventually become numb to the vibration and not feet it at all? How will the body fix this, or compensate for this? Will this turn to cancer?

Like I said I’ve had this for years. From the first Tmoble SideKick (the black and white screen) I join a bunch of alerts: horiscopes, weather, news, jokes… my phone vibrated all the time. Then when I didn’t have my phone on me I was feeling the vibrations.

Thank God I’m not losing my mind. Here I am googling this sympton of vibrations in hip area….. I’m going to try changing my phone to the my opposite hip and see if this goes away. It is definitely happening to me.

Whoa. Don’t act too fast, Cyndi. I am also here reading this thread because my leg started vibrating on my way to work this morning and is STILL vibrating right now! I couldn’t wait to get home and “Google” it! The sensation can definitely be described as a cell phone ringing, in my buttock. Oh, but it gets better! I keep my cell phone in my RIGHT pocket, and it is clearly only my LEFT leg that is vibrating. Hmmm. Interesting… The vibration is in my buttock and travels down the leg. I am over 40 and I have never had this “syndrome”. Is it caused by a cell phone? I don’t know. I was googling it because I was afraid it was a symptom of a “nearly clogged” artery or something. I’d love to be part of a case study if they want to hook up some electrodes to actually monitor the sensation.

Ann, I also did a search for this strange vibrating feeling in hopes of finding some sort of reason for it. Mine started a couple of months ago and not anywhere near where I carry my cell phone (in a case on my belt). I was discussing it with my wife today and merely described it “as a vibrating cell phone feeling” because it’s hard to describe. My concern is…I’m feeling it in an area near a known medical problem. I suppose when you reach my age (75)…new strange feelings are the norm. Good luck to all of you…..but yes, the feeling is real.

Yeah, Since yesterday I have been looking for a hard drive which I accidently left plugged in on the floor, and reaching inside of covers to find my palm phone to find that it is my left leg which is acutally vibrating. Its been ongoing since yesterday. and gotten more frequent, my knee down to my foot. I dont know if my foot is ringin or my phone. wow weird.

well…Im a baker and i often keep my cellphone in the left breast pocket of my chefs coat. Within the last couple months my left breast has had that vibrating sensation, its making me crazy. Not only that but could it cause me to develop breast cancer? Im a little nervous.

I agree with Sevenizm, the information you gave was good, but the last paragraph really wasn’t necessary. I don’t see a correlation. I was unable to read the article your referenced, which may have been a bit “out there”. I feel my phone vibrating when it isn’t even in my pocket. I consider myself a pretty sane person and have never experianced anything like this. It is kind of a curious subject i think it is perfectly fine for it to be called a syndrome. Alot of people have the strange vibrating sensation, its alright for researchers to give it a name. “Syndrome” doesn’t mean it is life threatening.

I think people have a lot more to worry about then a vibrating appendage; like cancer, AIDS, high cholesterol, getting hit by a bus, breathing, getting hit by a plane, whether or not Santa is real, whether or not the talking M&M’s are real, what you want to do with your life, what your going to have for diner, what your neighbor is going to have for diner, and pretty much everything else in the world there is to worry about and not worry about. How inconvenient is it honestly to feel the vibration? I’ve had it happen to me and it only lasts not even 2 seconds. I think you can deal with it, and I’m pretty sure you’ll survive. I’d be more concerned with the anxiety about worrying about why my leg was vibrating then the actual feeling. It doesn’t even hurt. Get the sand out of your viginas and deal.

Of course people have a lot more to worry about than a vibrating appendage, and are cognizant of that. Don’t be a fool. People have a lot more to worry about than what kind of food they’d like today. They could all eat rations. ..and people need not worry about athlete’s foot. ..or vitamins that they could survive without. ..or have cars, when there’s public transportation.

..but get a clue.

It’s just something that is a pain in the ass and people want to address it somehow. ..but to assume it doesn’t exist, or that people don’t have magnitudes of symptoms greater than yours is just as idiotic as freaking out about it.

On blowing this off — don’t be a douchebag.
On freaking out about it — People can change the pocket they keep their phones in, or in extreme cases, get an open-air bluetooth earphone, and a phone that will ring to it.

I have a lot of networking experience. I can make you (or the author of this blog) a proxy that changes the word “Syndrome” to “Thing” and “Symptom” to “Effect” if y’all are uncomfortable with.. ..you know.. ..terminology.

From the Article:
“People are experiencing something we call the Phantom Vibration Thing. Effects include feeling vibration when it is not present, or mistaking other sensations for vibration, and pointless terror that this means that one is slowly, slowly slipping off the deep end. It may cause people to cause hype, or to hype the hype that the people who caused hype caused.”

Yes. What Joe Black said. Also, I just started having this sensation in the past few days. I don’t carry my cell phone around in my pocket all the time, and if I did it would have to be a pocket down by my ankle. And it would have to be utterly imaginary, with no form whatsoever. What I’m trying to say is that IT MERELY FEELS like a cell phone vibrating, but I don’t think anyone who experiences the sensation actually thinks it’s a phantom cell phone vibrating (for crying out loud, you cannot be serious about that!). It’s some kind of neurological phenomenon, which I don’t the neurological community has bothered to investigate nor research yet.

I’m dumbfounded by the dumbassery in the post. Hopefully in the intervening years the author has learned something.

This is simply a scientific study on what the condition is. No one is causing hype about it. No one is complaining. It happens to me. For some reason people feel that it is a problem when scientists give more intelligent names to common feelings or disorders. Yes, I agree fully that these are just fancy technical terms for normal things. Science studies how things work. If everyone just used common terms for everything then science would not be as far as it is. Science is no different then you trying to solve a problem (ex. what to eat today). In brief the people who studied this had become curious. Then, they released their findings so they could educate others. The fact that people become angry with this is stupid.

I love the response from the Verizon spokesman! But in all seriousness, this is definitely believable. I get similar feelings in my hands after I’ve been mowing the lawn for a while. Once I turn the lawn mower off, I still feel the vibration in my hands for a little while afterward.

This has been happening to me for quite awhile but I didn’t discuss it with anyone because I thought it was me losing my mind. I am relieved to know that there are others having the same experience. Won’t take drugs for it, though….I can live with it…

I have had these phantom vibrations for years…got my first pager in 1992, kept it on vibrate…carried it in the same pocket(right side) for about 2 years….I started getting the vibrations prior to carrying my cellphone in my pocket……initially I thought it had something to do with the analog/digital signals sent to my previous device…..made me think I was intercepting messages intended for that device that someone else may be using at this point in time…..yeah……I know…Im crazy………..but….obvously……Im not the only one……..or wait….maybe im normal………anyway……when do i get my perscriptionfor medical marijuana…… for my restless pocket syndrome?

Its 2:30 in the morning and I read this entire artical (or whatever this is) on my phone, not because I “thought” or “felt” my phone vibrate.. It did, I heard it, and it even lit up, right in front of me… But you know what, I didn’t get a text. Or tweet. (And it just vibrated again… I really hope I got something that time.) anyways.. I want to know what in gods name caused my cell phone to vibrate.. I have experienced the phantom vibration before, many times. But this, yeah, this takes the cake. Weird.

This is some crazy shit! Just the other day I was moving some stuff and I swore I felt my phone vibrate but I just thought that I was going nuts… but I was fine with it! I didn’t try to go seek medical treatment… are you seriously telling me people are wasting there time and effort on studying this shit? spend a little time on cancer now! It seems like every girl I date these days has fuckin cancer or has had!

Yeah I just heard him say it. Thats what made me look the syndrom up. My daughter just said she gets this too. Too many people addicted to the cell phones is what I think. Throw the darn things out the window.

You are 100% correct on my spelling of “weather” and I have corrected it. Thanks for the heads up. It is not often I write about “weather” but I do use the word “whether” on a regular basis, I must have just been carried away by habit and the heat of the moment. I did not properly proof read this post, as you stated, and for that I offer my deepest apology. I will try to learn from this mistake and improve in the future.
Thanks again, and I hope to see you around more in the future. I would also like to apologize to you if I have used to many commas in this reply, it was not my intent to splice together multiple thoughts in one sentence, when it would have been more proper to use separate sentences.

I’ve had a cell phone for 8 years now and this just started happening to me a couple weeks ago. The only thing I can attribute to causing this is frequent text communication that resumed between me and my ex girlfriend a few weeks ago. I accidently cheated on her 6 months ago had not texted much since then. But recently we reaquainted textually, unfortunately not sexually yet. Anyways I think this is a mentle thing because I do believe she is teasing me as a form of punishment. Low and behold her 10 blue ball texts a day give me about 20 phantom text vibrations in my left leg each day even when I don’t have my phone on me. Not going to lie I realy want to bang this chick again, but my FVS has to stop. So I think I will have to ex the ex. I will let you guys know if the phantom vibrating stops.

I think you guys are taking this too medically. I don’t believe Phantom Vibration Syndrome is an actual Medical Condition.

Phantom Vibration is more of a Phenomena than a Syndrome.

And it does happen. I mistakenly thought that my phone was vibrating in my pocket, when it actually was not even in my pocket at all. I thought maybe I had a problem with my leg, until my friend let me know that this phenomena was so common that they actually had a cool term for it, Phantom Ring!!!

It just because we are so used to responding to our phones, that the anticipation can misperceive other sounds or vibration as a call coming in.

I use to work at a grocery store and always put my phone in my pocket. It would feel like my phone was vibrating in my pocket at least 4 or 5 times during my 8 hour shift. Its a weird feeling when you don’t get a call all day.

Liberty truly died in this once great country in 1980, when an actor was elected. He played the greatest roll in American cinema for centuries to come. He started a “War on Drugs”, arresting large amounts of lower-class citizens, regardless of the color of skin. He was a pawn of the banks, and caused most problems we’re seeing surface in todays economy.
He played the roll of fucking up our country, beyond repair.
God Bless America, but she stole the B from bless.

This happens to me, but I really think it might be medical for me. There are medical reasons for this. Bony crepitation is a palpable vibration or an audible crunching sound that results when one bone grates against another. …this can be caused by osteoarthritis, injury etc…. I found your article because the vibration started out as 2-3 seconds every once in a while but now it’s constant, and it’s not easy to ignore now. I have noticed that when I move, it’s magnified. I really don’t think this is caused from my cell phone even though I have mistaken it for my phone many times. Someone mentioned changing your phone from one side to another. I say, take your phone off vibrate and sooner or later, if the vibrations are really linked to your cell phone, they will end. If they continue, it’s medical and you should see a doctor. I plan on seeing my doctor.

I just started experiencing this sensation last night in my left leg upper pelvis. I do not carry my cell phone in either pocket and even when I use to it was never on vibrate. This sensation is being report A LOT and I think they are way of base with their conclusion. The reason it was related to cell phone in the first place is because its the only way people experiencing this can describe the vibration they are feeling. Yes “it feels like a cell phone is vibrating in my crouch” but I know one isnt there and hasnt been there in years on vibrate.
So come up with a real explanation

I don’t believe the cell phone thing either Joe because I don’t carry my cell phone in my pocket and I have the sensations many times over the course of the day everyday, in fact they are becoming more frequent.
I’m with you on needing another valid explanation….I also think people are relating it to their cell phone because that is exactly what it feels like…but there is no relation between my phone and the vibrating sensations I get and mine is in the same exact spot as yours. I had to look this up because mine are becoming so frequent that I was becoming concerned.

Sorry to break it to you – this is not a matter of “nanny-state” effects. I had these symptoms before any of the issues you mentioned were even a concern. Very likely it is more of a matter of growing narcissism – something so prevalent in American society that psychologists no longer consider it a disorder (a reclassification I strongly oppose).

It’s really nothing new – you think someone’s trying to contact you when they’re not. It’s the same as when you think the phone is wringing when it’s not and can probably be linked to compulsive-e-mail checking.

I have the feeling that my phone is vibrating all the time but to consider it a medical issue is absolutely ridiculous. This isnt the only one either….. There’s the epic, P.O.I.S. that’s Post Orgasmic Illness Syndrome as well as absurd medical practices such as “transpoosion”. Go ahead look them up . Its past the point of insanity anymore

I have been experiencing Vibration Syndrome for a few years, and mine is not connected to cell phone, because I don’t use one. It is much milder than the vibrations of cell phones I’ve seen go off on a table. I think a lot of people are mistaking the connection.

It started in one foot, then the other foot, now happens all over my body. It’s just this mild vibration that lasts for minutes, then goes away. Whether sitting, standing, even lying in bed reading a book, it just starts.

Actually, it has been happening for so long, that I don’t even notice it that much anymore. My vibrations have just become the norm. I’ve mentioned to the Dr. and he was clueless.

my vibration started a week ago .the rhythem is constant in repetion with the vibratin of my cell phone ,,it scared me at first i thought i may have circulatory blockag ,mine occurs on the inside of my left foot. this sensation is very real and aggravating to say the least, im glad to know I am not crazyand there are others like me .if anyone finds a cure please keep me informed

I have vibrations in my feet and my ears….I DON’T OWN A CELL PHONE…..I feel the bottom of my feet get hot and then they start to vibrate…With the next day or two there s a major earthquake…Ive noticed that the vibrations in my ear have a pattern almost like in a pattern…Then a few days later small earthquakes happen….I am not crazy but concerned…Im wondering if these vibrations aren’t coming from H.A.R.P. I wonder if anyone has kept track of this like I have.

at least i’m not the only one.
I think this is more an anxiety thing.
It only happens when I put my phone in a pocket where I might not hear it ring or feel it
vibrate…..and subconsciously I worry that it is ringing and that I might miss it.

Thus the slightest vibration of my jacket on something or my keys shifting in a big pocket
will cause me to think my phone was ringing/vibrating.

i do not even have a cell phone and i have this so i wish people would stop sounding like i am crazy … i know the hat thing but not everybody who has this feeling is just missing thier little electric toys!!!!!! so please know that for those of us with real nerve damage and honest pains and unexplained vibrations that some times even wake us up;that when these wacks cry about there imaginary phone vibrations it makes it hard for us to get real help from our drs cause they think we are just part of the latest fad disorder. well i am glad that everybody can find a diagnonese for that fake symptom they have.

hello!,I really like your writing very a lot! proportion we keep up a correspondence more about your article on AOL? I need an expert in this area to unravel my problem. May be that is you! Looking forward to look you.

A friend just sent me this article because i was telling her about this vibration thing in my leg. It happens to me all day long!! Not only does it happen when my phone is off but I’m typing on my iPhone now and I feel like my phone is vibrating in my pocket. It is driving me crazy! Since I have phantom vibration syndrome (self diagnosed ofcourse) can someone write me a prescription to make it go away?!

Well I could not force myself to read all the moronic replies that people have put in on this. I have to step in and add a little information from a Medic standpoint… The shit about “ringexity” or what ever is BS. If this is true then those who have that are nut bags (Not the DSM-IV TR diagnosis but close enough). The problem with these types of articles is that they make a joke out of real problems. The vibrating or buzzing sensation that is spoke of is actually common. It can be in the leg where some wear thier cell phones but it can also be in other parts of the body. It can be in young to old alike, and even those who have never had a damn cell phone. If anyone is having this and thier Dr suggests they have cell phone anxiety or any other mental health issue they should do two things:
First – fire your doctor, he is a dipshit
Second – be screened by a real medical health professional to rule out
M.S., Chrons Disease, B12 dificiency, nerve damage or inclussion secondary to buldging or herniated discs, and lastly liver function test. IF you have any of these DX’s already your doctor should be able to figure out if they are connected. If all of these are ruled out and you are addicted to your cell phone so badly that you always think its ringing, then throw the damn thing away and use land lines from now on your moron.
OH and just a note. I broke my neck in the line of duty and now have a titanium plate and 6 screws keeping my c-spine in line. My nerves from the C4, C5,and C6 vertibrae are damaged and will not recover. I also herniated my T7/L1 disc which has not been repaired. My leg vibrates all the time, and I often think its my cell phone. It is doing it right now and has been for about two hours. I am smart enough to know there is a real physical event occuring and would punch any doctor right in the pie hole if he said I was having symptoms related to my cell phone (then I would fire him).

I don’t understand why you’re anger about this issue. I read your about me and honestly agree with you on most of your opinions, but this seems like you’re trying to make it something it’s not. The government isn’t forcing this upon us. No one is saying it is lethal. It is something that exists and so people want to know what more about it. That’s what science is. The name is catchy, that’s why it was chosen. It sounds like a terrible Scooby-Doo villain, but I won’t forget it now. We have names for everything now because medical science has advanced to the place where we can accurately diagnose just about everything. I have this issue. It’s not ruining my life or keeping me awake at night. I simply wanted to verify that I’m not the only crazy who thinks his phone is vibrating when it isn’t there. You shouldn’t turn everything into a political rant for rant’s sake

I actually agree with you on this now. I wrote this post in 2007 and since that time I have decided to focus on issues which are more important than those such as this. It is ironic that this post and one other which I am actually embarrassed about seem to gain the most consitent following day in and day out. My time is better spent (I think) today on more important issues then it was when I wrote this post.

Muscles can vibrate due to an infection in the body or other serious illnesses. It can feel similar to a cell phone ringing if it was up against your body. Before cell phones, this symptom may have been called tremors possibly. We now have a similar sensation to compare it to so we use that. While the template explaination makes sense, I would recommend if there are any other symptoms going on that a Dr. be contacted. I think both are possible from the information in this article and my experience combined. Just assuming a vibration feeling is from a cell phone could be a mistake. I don’t have my cell phone up against my body ever, but that is exactly what my muscles feel like every day a few times a day and I was diagnosed with a life threatening infection. Kind of like ringing in the ears- I am sure when telephones first were invented, similar comparisons were made but we all know ringing in the ears can be a symptom of a serious illness. Spend more time educating yourself and less time being critical. Bobby, I am so glad you pointed this out to everyone. I never post on the internet but I couldn’t help myself here.

I just thought I’d say something seeing as I have some experience with this. I got my smart phone around a year ago and after a while (probably a month I don’t know exactly), I had these occational “vibrations” I call them a muscle twitch. I cracked my screen and then I started using a old phone I used 4 years ago an didn’t have a twitch ever that I can recall. Now I have fixed my smart phone and I have these twitches again every now and then. Is it possibly the fact that we are basicly sticking a laptop in our pocket all day? And for the person that commented that is a surgeon your situation is understandable, I’m sure my legs would twitch after that as well. I know mine do sometimes after a good hard day of snowboarding

I have started to experience vibrating in my right foot. I dont or have ever had a mobile phone in my pocket. I feel it is coming from something else. I had it about 10 years ago when I worked in the Ski feilds and had to wear ski boots all day. Someone told me it was from that. I havent worn ski boots in along time and it has come back. Recently I have been diagnosed with a neurological condition ( hydrocephalus) an unusal and rare case. ( Im 40 with little or no symptons and not operated on to releave pressure). I seem to be doing ok but funny symptoms such as this vibrating and twitching muscles have started, there could be a connection.

I had to start leaving my cell phone on the console of my truck or on a desk while I’m working. If I leave it in my pocket for an extended time the spot where my phone was will vibrate 2 or 3 times a minute. It usually takes a few days for it to stop. Drives me crazy!

Plan old ridiculous, the reason your having a vibration any were in your body is nerves, anxiety is usually the number one cause for most of these crazy searches over some search engine, just type in some other stupid thing happening to your body, chances are your gonna come up with, stress, anxiety, nerves. Plan and simple if it’s not that then you’ve got a problem some were between your anus to your cranium some sort of nerve disorder maybe sevre or mild just see a doctor. Cat scans and Mri’s work wonders. Spoken from experience, anxiety is a beoutch.

Well I am glad someone put this out because I was so concern and still is about this vibration in my lower back, I don’t carry my phone on my person, its always in my bag, so it must be nerves. However, the best thing for those of us who are suffering from this vibration is to see a doctor!

I’m experiencing this vibrating sensation right now. That’s why I googled the topic and found this blog. After reading some of the comments and possible causes, I keyed in on two things: caffine and stress. I’ve been slamming 5hour Energy this week like never before due to lack of sleep. Also, as I was reading, I focused on relaxing every muscle in my body. The vibrations stopped completely (until I satarted typing this message).

I’m no doctor, but here’s my suggestion, try to relax. Find a stress relieving activity like watching lint float past the beams of sunlight shining through your window. Avoid excessive amounts of caffine and try to get 6 to 8 hours of sleep every night. If that doesn’t work, see a doctor. His advice may not be as affordable as mine.

If the vibrations also come along with a ringing in the ears the vibrations could be coming from electrical power lines or towers. Alot of power lines are run underground and even the power lines that are on poles can also cause this. Also find out how far you live from phone towers and any thing else that could be hitting you electrically.

…i just came across your article in search of an understanding of what my leg has been doing and why…i keep my cell phone in a pocket on the side of my pants on vibrate…my leg now ‘vibrates’ only in the area of my pocket where the cell phone was whether or not my phone is even there (in fact, it’s doing it right now) and it does it for just about the same length of time my phone would be vibrating…it’s not uncomfortable…it’s just a weird sensation…i believe it is some sort of nerve reflex/memory issue and don’t consider it a big deal…i read that the solution is to simply turn off the vibrate function on the device or move it some place new until it starts again…it’s very real, but very insignificant on the scale of things we need to worry about…i just wanted to make sure i didn’t have some sort of cell phone irradiation that could cause some kind of cancer or other…

Amazingly I just had this happen starting recently, only it’s not ring anxiety. This is a real physical phenomenon that may possibly be caused by a magnesium/potassium deficiency. True chiz. No name yet. Google it.

People like myself do not even have a cell phone and it concerns them as to why they are having this sensation in their leg. The drs and scientists ended up coming with a name for it because they just couldnt say i dont know, and ignored. Its too much of a phenomena to let go. I have been having this sensation for three days now and I cannot figure out for the the life of me what it is. I wouldnt care if it went on for a few hours, but a few days…well thats concerning.
You think that its minute to worry about these vibrations, but as any doctor will tell you “Listen to you body, its trying to tell you something”.

What a crock!!!
It must be from nerves in the lower back or sciatica or pinched nerve in hip area.
My guess is as good or better than that cellphone crock.
See a Neurologist for tests and an E.M.G. series.

This is crazy! Restless leg syndrome? And now phantom vibrations? The irony is that I had restless leg as a kid. It was so uncomfortable I couldn’t sleep! But somehow I’ve survived. Now I have these irritating sensations that my phone is vibrating even when I know it’s not in my pocket. I’m sure someone will come out with a pill, patch or suppository soon. We will be subjected to ads with a narrator warning of side effects with the clarity of an auctioneer. I won’t be the first in line!

…people, you need to listen to yourselves…it’s not an issue…simply turn off the vibrate function on your phone or don’t wear the phone on your person!…that’s it…no pills, not surgery, no psychologist necessary…geez…

Do not over analyze it. This is an interesting phenomenon experienced by many, this is just the reasoning behind it. I just expierenced it sitting here at the airport, only to realize that the phone receiving a silent incoming call was from someone standing 3 feet to my left. My muscles by my left pocket vibrated.. Freaked me out and I decided to google it. Maybe my brain filtered through all the signals it can pick up and filtered something out that matched MY phone’s template in my head. Oh, and my phone was in my hand.. But it was soo convincing because the vibrations came on and off 3 times before he answered his phone, then it stopped.

this is a real condition caused because of nerve damage of some kind. mine was traced to the fact that i have cancer in my L3 and L4. In the course of treatment the nerve was damaged. it is more common with heavier people and people with lower back problems.

mine is not treatable but most people can have it repaired by changing thier cell phone batteries.

I used to keep my cell phone in my right front pocket all day and I always got muscle twitches in the same place. I switched to the left pocket and now I get muscle twitches there. The only explanation can be the radiation emitted.

The famed O.J. defense attorney Johnny Cochran died of brain cancer and was constantly on his cell phone. When they looked at an image of his brain, the tumor had the precise shape if a cell phone on the precise place that he had it up to his head all the time.

MYTHEIDI These vibrations I get in my left leg, are as real as am I. I know it sounds crazy but til it happens to you, its unbelievable.I know Im not alone,Im sure with time aand more research we’ll find out.

I had the same rhythmic vibration like a cell phone in my right leg just above the knee. It was going on 24 hours a day for the past 3-4 weeks. I thought about what was different in my life and after a few days I realized that the medication I take for my stomach, Pantoprazole (like pepcid) was a different generic brand than usual. I went back to the old generic brand and within 24 hours the vibration had stopped. I did some research and found that someone else had the same side effect when they changed to a different brand of stomach meds. So it looks like that for some people it may be a side effect to medication.

i have it in my legs starting from my feet and rippling up to my groin,at times i’ve had whole body vibrations.i do not carry a cell phone and haven’t for almost 3 years.i have my own theory on what it might be or could be but it always comes back to me being clueless.it has no pattern it almost seems at times it has it’s own personality,this combined with other things that are taking place.

I have been feeling the same in the past weeks, it’s weird my left hip vibrates as if I had my cell phone in my pocket, once I check it’s not my cell. A friend told me it can be from stress or a pinch nerve

I am 57 years old & have been telling my Doctor for about 5 years now my hips feel like there vibrating he has never said anything about it I do know that it is getting worse and by the way I do have a cell phone but never do I put it in my pocket or where it on my hip so am I imagining this I don’t think so

Even a small amount of research on leg vibrations reveals the cause as calcium deficiency. Start taking calcium citrate along with magnesium citrate. When taken together,..the added benefits is they both act as a mild laxative, a muscle relaxer and a better deeper sleep.

I’ve been having this vibrating feeling in my leg when lying down for a couple of weeks now. I thought it was due to restless legs syndrome, which is caused by anemia. I think magnesium, calcium, and potassium could probably help and maybe and I would even consider adding iron, vitamin C and vitamin B-12, maybe even some folic acid. The one thing I have found helpful in calming this down is Hyland’s Bioplasma. It’s a homeopathic cell salts combination and it reduced the twitching/ vibrating sensation in my leg enough to finally fall asleep last night. I’ve used it multiple times and it always seems to reduce it for me.

Uh my foot quite often vibrates. Not my whole leg. And I never carry my cell phone in pocket on vibrate. Its either completely on or in my purse or on a table.. So since you seem to be a know it all… Can you explain ?!! Maybe you aren’t a real Dr ?!!!! PS A real Dr. Said it can come from sensations caused by diabetes

Phantom Vibration Syndrome has nothing to do with cellphones. People feel vibrations in areas where they never carried a cellphone. Any doctors/researchesrs who think it is related to cellphones should find another line of work.

Well there are two versions of this.
So, i keep cell phone in my left pocket and sometimes even with the cell phone not in that pocket i feel a “fantom vibration”. Thats mental, because after i realize my phone is not there the vibration goes away.
Then theres another one. The one im feeling right now and caused me to google it. Its like a muscle spasm, its in my right leg and keeps going at random. This one is real and the title of this article Is not too funny to me right now.

Dead serious, my spine from upper to lower back feels like it’s vibrating. It’s extremely unnerving, there’s even a slight buzz in my ears . It started right after I took two Motion Sickness pills for nausea. I truly want to know, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?

Please see your doctor about the medical drug “Vibrastop” today. (Common side effects include vibration feelings, phone in pocket sensation when it’s not there, and the sensation of hearing a phone vibrator when it’s not on. In rare cases, you may feel phone vibrations in more than one area simultaneously. If you walk and almost get hit by a train or if you drive and almost have an accident while reaching for your phone during a phantom vibration incident, you should stop taking Vibrastop immediately.)

Really everything should have a name. It’s just a matter of how big a vocabulary you’re into. I like having a name for everything and learning new/deeper terminology. For example: the word undulating. I just found out this is what a flag in the wind does. You could say it waved in the wind, but it is also undulating, that ripple thing it does. But to each their own

Dumb, I really do feel this
I assumed when I opened Google I would have to struggle to find the right words for vibration over my left breast. Then I read the stupid title of this article.
I don’t carry my cell phone with me. Toy wife and friend consternation I am that guy who doesn’t care to have his phone on him. So to day I have a phantom memory from a phone I have never carried in my left breast pocket is just DUMB. I don’t know what it is but a phantom memory of something that never happened is not it.

Gerald, I felt the same way you did. But, I think there is some fact to this theory. I get the feeling on the outside of my left thigh. Well, my pocketbook rests exactly in that spot and my cell phone is always in my pocketbook. when I was reading the article, I actually put my pocketbook on my shoulder and it rests right there. Its more than a coincidence. I am going to switch shoulders and see what happens. God only knows what kind of affects these modern devices are going to have on us. Yes, it sounds dumb but then again we can’t explain a lot of dumb things.

This is something similar to what I experience on the highway. I have been diagnosed with severe aniexty disorder but now can’t drive on the highway. It is something I know now not to do. Something goes off now every time I try to get on the Parkway. Inner city no problem. It is like a switch going off in my head. Very intense and scary.

I think the vibrations in people’s legs could be a blockage of blood flow. When you bend a hose the water makes it vibrate. Deep vein thrombosis can cause this,or high cholesterol. Now I’m not a doctor but I’m just saying what I think it could be.

Your understanding is incomplete. I feel these vibrations in different parts of my body and I have never, ever put my cell on vibrate. It is right to be concerned when you start having unexplainable symptoms!

Ive just A few times ask A couple members of my family if they felt the vibration that I was feeling? No matter where I was standing or even now sitting & laying at times. Ive only mentioned about the standing & sitting with the vibration thing they think im crazy but I know what I am feeling. Is this dangerous or am I realy crasy?

I’m 54 year old male and had this exact issue for at least 4-8 years. I carry my cell phone in different places, left pocket, right pocket, shirt pocket, jacket pocket, inside jacket pocket. Most often the phone is not on my person but laying near me where I can reach it at home or in the car. I feel a vibration in my right thigh exactly where my right pocket is at. It feels very similar to a cell phone vibrating. I have often reached in my right pocket to get my phone when this happens. When it does happen the phone is usually not on my person. I have always attributed this to a flutter in a nerve, vein or muscle.

I had a DVT behind that knee 10 years ago and was rechecked about 3 weeks ago at an ER after my right calf got sore, red and swollen for no reason. Nothing turned up on the ultrasound. A few days later my greater saphenous vein became swollen. (That’s the longest vein in the body that runs from you groin area, down inner thigh, behind the calf and down into the foot. It’s the vein that’s sometimes removed and used for heart bypasses.) This seems unrelated to the thigh vibration issue but thought I would mention it because I did get checked for a clot. Someone on here mentioned the vibration issue could be a clot. Not in my case.

I have also had a little numbness in my right foot and more so in my right big toe since July 2014, about 2.5 years now. It mostly subsided after 2-4 months or so.That numbness has mostly went away but still occurs occasionally and it’s not very noticeable. I’m being examined for the swollen vein issue that runs from my thigh to my foot. I mentioned the occasional numbness in my right foot to the doctor last week. His initial guess was a pinched nerve in my spine area that may be causing the numbness in my foot. An x ray showed some arthritis in my spine. I am scheduled for a lumbar MRI soon. I think the foot numbness and the swollen saphenous vein are unrelated issues but no determination has been made at this time. It sounds at least feasible that a pinched nerve in my neck/spine could cause a nerve to twitch in my thigh and possibly cause the occasional numbness in my foot. A definite answer to that question seems unlikely. I didn’t even mention the thigh vibration to my doctor. I’ll ask from now on. I’ll likely being seeing some specialist soon.

Note the saphenous vein is on the complete opposite side of my leg/thigh from where I feel the vibration sensation. Also the thigh vibration has been occurring for at least several years. It seems likely the issues are unrelated since the vein issue just occurred a month ago.

The “phantom vibration syndrome” is very real. As I stated I am guessing it’s a twitching nerve, vein or muscle. It happens to me very occasionally and usually just last 5-20 seconds or so. Sometimes it will do it several times, sometimes just once. In my case it’s just an odd sensation that happens to mimic a cell phone vibration and it happens to be right where my pocket is at. I feel certain it’s completely unrelated to a cell phone in my case. The idea that it’s a phantom vibration created by my mind seems ridiculous. It’s likely just a nerve twitching. It would be very irritating if it was happening a lot.

Wow, do you get upset over the commercials for starving children to???? My whole left leg suffers from this and it’s quiet unnerving. I have to say I opened your article in hopes of info but was completely misled. Your soapbox is of having to “hear” of someone else’s problems. REALLY? Is it causing you to lose sleep at night? There are people out there that have problems looking for answers. You struck me a having such a lack of empathy that you would protest the special Olympics because you “heard” about it. My husband doesn’t even know the hours awake this causes me but somehow I have infected your life with this problem.

My rant against the author should be below but as I looked at the article again…. there is no author. This is just smut. Even the link they say the article is from doesn’t work. Watchtower… shameful. Do commercials for starving Children bother you to? I suffer from this in my whole leg yet my husband doesn’t even know but lord it sure does interrupt your life. The lack of empathy is astounding.

“I’m not making this shit up”. Yeah pretty convincing article. Maybe from all these sidetracking and making this article seems like a 16 years old kid is writing it, it could be more professionally written and be believable. Thank you amd have a great day.

I get a butt vibrating when I bend my head down. Driving me nuts too. I’ve had a lower back fusion but never any probs on upper part cervicsl or thoracic. Help my butts buzzing n I have no clue what it is. Try n explain it to family n they think I’m crazy. I never use phone in vibrate or n my pocket, so it’s not not that. I’m a lil 😩 worried.
Butt buzzer😂😭😭

I feel my left pocket vibrate all day long.It started two weeks ago and it’s not a figment of my imagination either.I swear every ten to fifteen minutes I’m feeling it as plain as day.and I know I don’t have my phone in my pocket.Starting to get irritating.what am I supposed to do?

I’m sure this may be the case for some people and it has been suggested to me (mostly by Dr’s who don’t take the time to actually listen to me) but I have had this feeling for YEARS. Long before cellphones even existed and certainly long before I ever had one. So I strongly believe that this is NOT the case for A LOT of people out there that have been told this like I have. It has to be something else and since this is the only thing they can think of then its an “oh that must be it…its all in their heads” kind of a thing…BULLS>>T. I researched studies done by doctors where they have recorded the vibrations in the legs of people complaining of issues like mine. Sorry but I think a ton more research is needed into this and every person complaining of this, most are found to have MS or Lupus or another debilitating diseases. so don’t just accept the first answer if it doesn’t feel right.

I honk the husband being related on our being on our phones too much is crap. My mother is 80 years old. She’s not on her phone all the time. But she did havean accident and had head trauma. She also has spinal stenosis and had back surgery. I truly think this is neurological. It could be the metal in their bodies is causing a chemical build up. It could be that nerves are pinched and signals are going rogue. There is also a virus that is circling that causes electrolyte issues. And most common is sleep apnea. A growing issue that is causing neurological symptoms and dealing havoc on the body and brain.
But please don’t tell these poor people that it’s nothing but being on their phones. That’s lame.

I carry my cell phone in my shirt pocket next to my left lung..as i sit in my chair holding my cigar in a plastic cigar holder I feel tiny tiny vibrations in my thumb and fore finger. This f felt strange so I removed the cell phone from my shirt and the tiny vibrations ceased. this has been going on for months before I found out it is the cell phone…I wonder if this has been a dangerous vibe to my body and I did not know it….anyone know if this is a danger to my body?